


Another Day

by captainamergirl



Category: General Hospital
Genre: Crack Relationships, F/M, affair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 07:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15043883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Another day, another Webber girl at his side.





	Another Day

**Author's Note:**

> A Ric Lansing and Sarah Webber one shot. Per a friend's suggestion (you know who you are!), I "recasted" Sarah with the actress Heather Stephens!

"What are you doing here, Mr. Lansing?" she asked, as she looked up and spotted him walking into the ER. He had a decidedly stormy expression in his dark eyes. "Your brother is shot and it's like blood in the water for you, isn't it?"

"A shark joke. For a lawyer. How original," he answered as he came to stand at the nurse's station across from her. She was just on the other side of the desk. There was only a little Formica between them and yet it didn't feel close enough.  
  
"It wasn't a joke, Mr. Lansing," she returned with the barest trace of a smile on her pale face. "It was a statement of fact."  
  
"Oh so you think you know me now?" He shook his head. "If you did know me at all you wouldn't be calling me 'Mr. Lansing'. I'm your brother-in-law now."  
  
She nodded. "Yes. Please don't remind me. After all you've done to hurt my sister; I don't know why she hasn't washed her hands of you yet."  
  
"Can we quit with this banter - even as entertaining as it is," Ric said. "My brother ... I want to know if he's going to make it."  
  
"Yes. Unfortunately for you. According to 'my sources' the bullet missed all major organs. He'll recover just fine."  
  
"And be back to shooting and maiming people himself," Ric said with a roll of his eyes. "How charming that he keeps cheating death."  
  
"How 'charming' that you can't let go of your vendetta against him," Sarah said. "If you hate him so much, why did you even come?"  
  
Ric looked at her, his eyes becoming hooded and even stormier in response to her question. She shivered involuntarily and knew she had her answer.  
  
He had come for her.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
She walked into the Port Charles hotel purposefully, dressed head to toe in emerald green. People had told her it was a color that favored her wavy, reddish-blonde locks. She went up to the front desk and asked if her date had arrived yet. She was told Nikolas was not there but that he had left a message for her.  
  
"Stood up?" A familiar voice said behind her, causing immediate shivers to trail up and down her spine.  
  
She didn't turn around even as his hand stole out briefly to brush across her bare back. She swallowed hard and licked her suddenly parched lips. Still not turning around, she replied, "He didn't stand me up. He had errands to attend to. He's running a bit late ..."  
  
"Yeah right. I know a 'stood up' notice when I see one. Besides, I saw him earlier today cozying up to little Emily Quartermaine. Though she isn't so little anymore, now is she? She's tall and beautiful and -"  
  
Sarah shook her head. "Shut up, Ric. I know what you're trying to do and it's not working."  
  
"I'm leaving for Tokyo for a month," Ric said in a low voice. "Please get us a room. We have to talk."  
  
"Talk, Ric?" Sarah sniffed. "Something tells me that's not the real agenda clouding your twisted mind."  
  
"Just get the room," he whispered into her hair. "I'll meet you around the corner."  
  
XoXoXo  
  
She didn't know what made her do things like this but she got a room key and as she passed Ric in the hallway, she whispered "Room 313" to him before heading for the elevator.  
  
When she stepped off the elevator on the third floor, she felt a rush of fear and anticipation settle in her stomach. They had never so much as truly kissed and here she was ready to be his whore on his command. It was like Lucky Spencer all over again except this time Sarah was painfully aware her sister was actually married to this man this time and he had already cheated on Elizabeth once with the black widow, Faith Roscoe. This was the worst kind of betrayal to Elizabeth and she almost decided to call the whole thing off when the elevator dinged again and she felt a firm hand on her arm.  
  
Ric took the room key from her hand and scanning the hall both ways, he pulled her towards 313. Neither said a word because there were no words that could describe what they were about to do.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Once inside the room, Ric shut the door and lightly clasped her around the waist, even as her hand lingered on the door. Could she do this? Could she go through with it? She loved this man, she knew that now, but she loved her sister too and in the end, Ric wasn't going to leave Elizabeth for Sarah nor would she honestly want him too. It would break Liz's heart and while Liz was convinced Sarah didn't care about her, the opposite was true. If she didn't care she wouldn't be silently debating herself even as Ric's warm lips found the crest of her bosoms and he began to thumb her nipples through the thin fabric of her dress.  
  
She wantonly moved into Ric's touch though still no words had been exchanged. She felt him move upwards until he was now sucking on the hollow of her neck. It felt so damn good. So sinfully good and she didn't want it to end. But it had to. She had to end it even if it hurt them both. Tears filled her eyes as his hand fisted in her hair and he began to play with the slipper on her dress. She willed herself not to outright sob in front of him but this was breaking her heart - the knowledge that all they would ever be was each other's dirty little secret when she wanted so much, much more.  
  
Ric obviously felt her stiffen in his arms because he stopped with the zipper halfway down her back. "What's wrong?" he asked.  
  
The tears spilled over and Sarah pushed him away, covering her face with her hand. "Sarah -" he started but she shook her head.  
  
"No let me talk, Ric," she said in a hoarse, wavering voice. She looked up at him with watery eyes. "What am I to you?"  
  
"What -"  
  
"It's an easy question, Ric. Am I your sister-in-law or your whore or your -"  
  
"Sarah, you mean a lot to me," Ric said. "A helluva lot. You think I planned this somehow? No I planned the trip to Tokyo to put thousands of miles between us and what I want so much. I don't want to keep hurting Elizabeth. I don't even want to hurt you. But the thought of you and Nikolas ... It brought out that predatory side of me my brother likes to say that I have. I wanted you - I want you. All of you."  
  
"You can't have all of me, Ric," Sarah cried. "That's just it. You can have me for an hour or a night, you can have my body and you can mark it as yours, but you can't have me and I can't have you. You're my sister's husband. I've hurt her enough and so have you. We need to stop this."  
  
"Sarah, please."  
  
She shook her head and reached behind herself, zipping her dress back up to the collar. "No, Ric, you know this is all wrong and no matter what you or I want, we can't make it un-wrong. It is what it is. I won't hurt my sister again - not even for you."  
  
Then she turned and walked out of the hotel room.   
  
XoXoXo  
  
She sat in her sister and brother-in-law's house and watched as Elizabeth moved around the house, clearly unable to sit still, and finally Sarah, in annoyance, lightly gripped Elizabeth by the arm and pulled her over to the sofa. "Liz, talk to me."  
  
"I can't. I have to clean the house before dinner and -"  
  
"Something's bothering you," Sarah said. "You're all keyed up and your face is all flushed. Your pulse is also racing. What's going on?"  
  
"Why must there be something going on?" Elizabeth asked. "Maybe I am just tired from dusting all day. Ric is coming home from his business trip tonight and -"  
  
Sarah leveled Elizabeth with a knowing stare. "You are a ball of energy, your face is beat red. There's more going on than just nerves about seeing your husband after a month."  
  
Elizabeth nodded. "Okay, there is something going on. And I hate you have to be the one I confide in but if I don't say something now, I'm going to burst."  
  
Sarah placed her hands on her lap, waiting quietly but also anxiously. Why did she think Elizabeth's news was going to change her world too?  
  
"So ..." Sarah hedged. "Talk to me, Elizabeth."  
  
"Sarah, I'm pregnant!" Elizabeth practically shrieked. After a long moment in which Sarah just sat there staring at Liz in shock, Elizabeth snapped, "Well, say something."  
  
"Uh, sorry. I was just stunned. I mean, you lost a baby before and I didn't know you and Ric were trying now and -" Rambling. Incoherently. Today was not her day. This news shouldn't bother her so much. God knew she and Ric were not even slightly involved. She had made it clear the day he left for Tokyo. She remembered it all so well now and it nipped bitterly at her conscience and her pride.  
  
Elizabeth nodded. "We weren't trying. Not yet anyway. You could pretend to be happy for me, Sarah."  
  
Sarah sighed and reached for Elizabeth's hands. "Sorry. I was shocked for a moment there but I truly wish you and Ric all the best."  
  
Elizabeth looked down at Sarah's small hands wrapped around her even smaller ones. "I have Ric. I have a baby growing inside me now. I feel like finally some things make sense for once."  
  
"I'm glad," she said. Lie. Bitter, bitter lie.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Sarah tried her best to leave before Ric arrived home but for whatever reason, Elizabeth would not take "no" for an answer; she insisted Sarah stay and have dinner with them. It was like she needed a chaperon; that's how Elizabeth was acting. Still all fidgety and twitchy, full of nervous energy. Sarah didn't think Elizabeth had been half this nervous the first time she learned she was pregnant but obviously she was worried the pregnancy wouldn't be viable or maybe she was worried Ric wouldn't be happy.  
  
"If you're making me stay, at least let me do something," Sarah said and Elizabeth agreed though clearly reluctantly.  
  
"Yeah pour yourself and Ric some wine. I'll have a glass of water of course."  
  
"Of course," Sarah agreed and went into the kitchen to pour all the drinks. Her stomach was full of wildly flapping hornets as she moved into the kitchen and sagged for a moment against the counter. She felt tears in her eyes but she willed them back even as she heard the kitchen door open and knew who was standing there.  
  
"Sarah."  
  
One word had never communicated so much, she decided as she turned around and looked at him. She had to keep reminding herself he was her brother-in-law, the father of her future niece or nephew or she would jump him now. He had never looked more handsome than he did then sans tie and suit jacket, his hair free of gel and his eyes dark and hooded.  
  
"Ric."  
  
"How are you?"  
  
"Just fine," she said. Lie. Bitter, bitter lie.  
  
Ric seemed to be caught with uncharacteristic indecision before he finally began moving over to her. She instinctively picked up a full wine glass and stuck it between them. It sloshed on his white dress shirt and he sighed and grumbled, "Did you really think I'd attack you while my wife's in the other room?"  
  
"No of course not," she answered.   
  
"Just being cautious of the predator," Ric said. "I almost admire that."  
  
"Ric-"  
  
Just then the kitchen door opened and Elizabeth walked in. "Your shirt," she said first gesturing to the moist red stain on his shirt.  
  
"Nice to see you too, Elizabeth," Ric said and then closed the distance between them and kissed her full on the lips. Sarah tried to avert her eyes but it was impossible.  
  
"I missed you," Ric murmured into Elizabeth's hair.  
  
"I missed you too, Ric," she replied and looked over his shoulder at Sarah who was standing there looking so awkward.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
At dinner, Elizabeth told Ric the news and he took it very well not that Sarah honestly would have thought otherwise. He had wanted children so much he had tried to steal one from his brother's wife's pregnant belly. That should have disgusted Sarah - it used to - but now she could only wonder what private demons drove Ric to such destructive actions. She felt the need to know everything about him and knew she would never have that full opportunity. From now on, she intended to keep her distance as much as was possible. It was for the best anyway. Or so she told herself.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Two months passed and then one day Elizabeth unexpectedly arrived on Sarah's doorstep as Sarah was headed out to work. Elizabeth was in tears as she hemmed and hawed about why she had come and finally Sarah pulled her sister into the apartment and handed her a box of tissues as she called the hospital and informed them she would be late today.  
  
Then once hanging up the phone, Sarah moved over to Elizabeth and sat next to her on the overstuffed sofa. "Talk to me, Liz." Sarah knew instinctively that this news, like the baby news, would change her world forever yet again.  
  
"Ric and I are over," Elizabeth cried, tears rolling down her face. Sarah just sat there staring at her sister and finally Liz snapped, "Say something dammit!"  
  
Sarah nodded. "I'm - I'm sorry... What happened?"  
  
"Ric found out the baby I'm having isn't his," Elizabeth admitted and Sarah nearly fell off the sofa in shock.  
  
"What? Liz, are you serious?"  
  
"Yeah. He found the amnio test I had done. He confronted me about it and I admitted it was true. That Zander Smith and I-"  
  
Sarah's head was spinning. She was sure it literally was. She was seeing stars and spots and all kinds of crazy junk she couldn't make sense of. She gripped the sofa cushion underneath her to keep from passing out. Was this a blessing or a curse? She couldn't exactly decide.  
  
"You and Zander? How did it happen?"  
  
"It happened the night Ric left for Tokyo. At the airport when Ric and I were saying goodbye I smelled perfume on his shirt and I thought he had been cheating on me again. I wanted to confront him about it but I didn't want a public scene and then his flight was called and though everything screamed at me to make him stay and face me, I let him go. And I went and got drunk at Jake's and Zander was there too, all depressed over losing Emily to Nikolas ..."  
  
Sarah rubbed her forehead. She had to do something to keep in the moment. She knew the perfume Elizabeth had smelled on Ric was her own. She had literally driven her sister into another man's arms and now she was pregnant with that other man's baby and Sarah felt sick to her stomach.  
  
"Liz, I have to tell you something."  
  
XoXoXo  
  
Elizabeth listened to Sarah's story about the hotel room at the Port Charles hotel and all the moments Sarah had come close to physically giving into Ric before and since that time. Elizabeth was horrified by Sarah's admissions but in the end, Sarah could see she was not surprised.  
  
"You knew, Liz," Sarah said.  
  
Elizabeth nodded. "Of course I figured out something was going on with you two. I'm not blind or dumb. Ric never looked at me like that. He puts me on a pedestal but he looks at you like you're his equal. It frustrates the hell out of me... And I should hate you so much for this. I really should. I actually kind of do. But I think I knew Ric and I were never going to work things out permanently. I could never trust him again after Faith and I never really learned to trust you either." She sighed. "I am just tired of competition, Sarah. I can't believe I'm saying this but I want us to be friends. Sisters for once. Or at least try to act like sisters. So I can't begrudge you your feelings for Ric anymore."  
  
Sarah stared at Elizabeth. "Do you have a fever? Do you want to lie down? Should I get the thermometer?"  
  
Elizabeth actually smiled. "No, I'm serious. I am really sad Ric and I ended like this but he's not my true love. You only get one of those and mine was Lucky."  
  
Sarah shook her head. "I stole him from you too."  
  
"I know," Elizabeth said. "I guess that's why I am not up for competing with you anymore. If we keep trying to one up each other, we're only going to keep getting hurt."  
  
"Liz, I don't know what you're saying..."  
  
"I am saying Ric and I are over. And I understand and will eventually learn to accept it if he chooses to be with you in the end."  
  
Sarah shook her head. "I think we severed that tie already, Elizabeth. But I am so sorry I hurt you, over and over again."  
  
Elizabeth nodded. "I know you are. I actually believe that for the first time in my life. Ask me another day and I might change my mind but today I believe you love me and only want what's best for me."  
  
Sarah reached out and hugged Elizabeth. "Believe it, Elizabeth. I do love you. You're my best sister."  
  
"I'm your only sister."  
  
"Still..."  
  
XoXoXo  
  
She thought about calling Ric so many times that day after Elizabeth left her apartment. All through her shift at the hospital, she kept looking around, looking for any sight of him. But he never showed up. Not that day or any other. He remained completely elusive as he seemed to most prefer to be.  
  
XoXoXo  
  
One day she had the rare day off from work and decided to stay home and just rest. Not that resting was easy. Ric had left town nearly six months ago and she kept wondering if it was because he hated her for telling Elizabeth the truth about them. He never called, he never wrote; she actually had no damn clue where he was sequestering himself and if he was even okay.  
  
Suddenly the doorbell rang and she slowly dragged herself off her sofa and towards the door. She didn't care to see anyone. She hadn't even showered or done her hair yet today and she was a wreck in every single way but she didn't feel she could ignore the caller. Especially because they were practically leaning on the doorbell now.  
  
"Coming, coming," she called out and then opened the door. She was shocked to see Ric standing there. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in his stubbly face and casual clothing.  
  
"Ric ..."  
  
"Sarah," he said. "Can I come in?"  
  
"I don't know if that's such a good idea."  
  
"C'mon. Are you afraid to be alone with me?" That familiar irreverent smirk of his appeared on his too-handsome face.  
  
Sarah rubbed her forehead. "I plead the fifth."  
  
"Ah brushing up on your legal jargon, I see," Ric observed. "You did miss me, didn't you?" He started to step into the apartment then but she pointedly blocked him. They were so close now that she could feel the heat of his minty breath on her cheek.  
  
"Did I say you could come in?"  
  
"Why can't I?"  
  
"Because you've been gone for what - six months now? You didn't call or write or -"  
  
"Sorry to bruise your ego, Sarah, but there is a reason for all that."  
  
Sarah crossed her arms and shook her head. "Just go away, Ric. I can't deal with this okay? Elizabeth and I are in a really good place for the first time in our lives..."  
  
Ric nodded. "That's what I hoped for ... That you two would work things out. That's why I left for so long. To make sure to give you two that time."  
  
"Ric, you're not that selfless."  
  
"The divorce will be finalized in two weeks," Ric said. "If I really wanted to keep you two at odds, I would not have left town at all and instead forced you two further apart."  
  
Sarah sighed. "So why are you here now?"  
  
Ric smiled. "If its not obvious, then I'm worse at romancing you than I thought."  
  
Now Sarah was smiling. "You're 'romancing' me?"  
  
Ric nodded. "I want to try. I want to be with you, Sarah. Every damn day for the past months, all I did was think about you and how much I wanted you. How much I loved you..."  
  
"Ric ..."  
  
"It's true, Sarah," he said, reaching out and running a warm thumb down her cheek. "I loved you all along I think. I just wanted Liz to save me I guess because I thought she could. But you're - you're the only one in my whole life who accepts me the way I am and that means ... everything to me."  
  
Sarah nodded as a tear slipped down her cheek. "I love you too," she murmured and then her hand was reaching out and stroking his chin before she moved into him and kissed him on the lips. He returned the kiss with equal fervor and abandon.  
  
When they pulled apart, she rested her forehead against his. "Where do we go from here, Ric?"  
  
"You know that old cliche about taking things one day at a time..."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Let's try that," Ric said.  
  
Sarah nodded. "Okay, one day at a time ... I can do that."  
  
"Me too," Ric said and he reached out encircling his arm around her tiny waist. "On another day we can worry about the specifics, but today I just want to be alone with you."  
  
Sarah nodded and leaned into his embrace. "I want that too, Ric. I want that too. More than anything."  
  
FINIS


End file.
